Chief Flynn wants state to change concealed-carry law

Milwaukee's police chief made a plea to Wisconsin lawmakers to crack down on gun-toting criminals after a spike in shootings.

The chief said this summer's gun violence should lead to changes.

There were dozens of shootings on Milwaukee's streets in August, and Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn points, in part, to Wisconsin's lenience for those who carry handguns illegally making it only a misdemeanor crime.

"We need standards which say career criminals can't get permits. And we need sanctions which say if you break this law, you go to jail for three years," Flynn said.

The chief said there are gun-carrying suspects who've had multiple run-ins with his officers who have concealed-carry permits, pointing specifically to a suspect he labels a career criminal.

"This is a man who has been shot, who's been at shooting scenes, who's been arrested for serious crimes. And under current law, he qualifies for a gun permit," Flynn said.

"Of a felony. I cannot believe the Legislature was thinking of him when they said, 'We're going to have gun-permitting process,'" Flynn said.

"The right to carry is a constitutional right. We don't believe you should even have to have a permit for it," Wisconsin Carry Inc. President Nik Clark said.

Clark said the solution is not changing Wisconsin gun laws.

"If they're robbing someone, whatever else they're doing, charge them with that crime. But the act of carrying a gun, absent any other circumstance, I don't believe should be a crime for anybody -- felons aside," Clark said.

Flynn said he's asking the state Legislature to block concealed-carry permits from those who have been convicted of three misdemeanors within five years, not just felons, and to make it a felony to carry a gun illegally.

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